land, have created great dubiety as to the extent of the operation of this act. Such a measure is much needed in Scotland, where, in the framing of the contracts of copartnership, as well as the local acts of incorporation of joint-stock companies, all the provisions are made for the distribution of profits and benefits; and losses are not contemplated. The English bankruptcy system claims a wider operation than the law of Scotland is disposed to sanction, when the two come into collision in the Scottish Courts; and thus it is to be feared that, unless the legislature interpose, the act in question will have the effect of inducing people to commence proceedings in England, which may afterwards be counteracted in Scotland. In the later statutes relative to the bankruptcy court, and in the insolvent debtors' acts, clauses were introduced for vesting in the assignees real property in Scotland, by the aid of the Scottish system of real property records. The clauses were only too effective; for it was found, to the horror and alarm of the offi cials, that the English assignee leaped at once, and without any formalities, into a position which could not, according to the law and practice in Scotland, be attained, without previous preliminaries, necessary, it was said, for the proper order and utility of the records. On the other hand, it was found that the old Scottish bankruptcy act had not given the trustee or assignee authority to sue for debts in England, because they were choses in action, which could not be carried by assignment. I take it for granted,' said Lord Ellenborough, that the framer of the act was aware of the law of England touching the assignment ' of a chose in action.' That is to say, that he drew the clause in the knowledge of a rule of law which would render it useless. * Whatever arrangements may be made for the mere structure of our statute law, we must never forget, that they can only be subsidiary to the capacity of adapting the substance of the legislation to the objects it is intended to accomplish. To suppose that good legislation will be invariably the result of a good machinery for systematically arranging the words in which it is expressed, would be as fallacious as to suppose, that the syllogistic form will always embody sound reasoning. Notwithstanding the theory of our representative system, and the aggregate discussion and sanction that characterise British legislation, there is no doubt that our great social and administrative reforms are generally the fruits of individual minds; who thus exercise over their fellow-creatures * Rattray v. White, 4; Dunlop's Reports, 880. the beneficent despotism of talent, industry, and integrity. When legislation proceeds on that species of induction from facts, both wide and minute, which characterised the English poor-law measure, he who has painfully collected from individual abuses the general character of past defects, and thence has devised the comprehensive remedy, is generally the person who best knows how that remedy should be embodied in legislation. The immense mass of unused knowledge which fills our parliamentary Blue Books,' and of which each portion, after it has had its hour of newspaper notice, sinks into oblivion, must be in a great measure attributed to the circumstance, that the able and industrious men who are employed in these inquiries, stop with inquiry and exposition; and are not entrusted with the additional duty of embodying the remedies in measures fully prepared and digested for the adoption of Parliament. In the Report of the English Poor-Law Inquiry Commission, there is a distinct remedial measure attached to each exposition of the defects of the old system; and these suggestions are printed in capitals, so that the reader can either examine each one in connexion with the particular inquiry to which it is attached, or at a general glance survey the whole, as the outline of a Poor-Law Code. We believe it was intended, that the gentleman whose views most influenced the scope of the inquiry, and the character of the remedies, should have embodied in the Report the full details of a remedial measure ; and that many of the defects which were afterwards discovered, were owing to the drawing of the act having, from the rapidity with which it was thought necessary to proceed, been placed in the hands of professional persons, to whom the whole was new; and who could not be so imbued with the spirit that presided in the Report as fully to embody its principles. Such a method of preparing laws need not be at variance with uniformity in their structure. A revisal by any officer whose duty it is to see that the bill conforms in its structure to certain rules, may proceed in complete harmony with the labours of the person who suggests and embodies the measure. In France, there is a pretty complete and systematic arrangement for the preparation and revisal of each projet de loi by responsible official persons; and each measure issues complete from its proper office before it comes on for consideration by the legisla ture. It is true that complete official superintendence of the details of any measure, is somewhat incompatible with its free treatment by the legislature. However skilfully or systematically it be framed, it is necessary that Parliament should be at perfect freedom to alter its details in Committee. A little management may be necessary to reconcile the two advantages; but order and system, the circumstance that each department has its proper place where it may be found,--will render the whole scope of a measure more manageable in the hands of those who are dealing with it; will enable them to see more readily where alterations are needed; and will facilitate the adaptation of amendments to the general scope of the measure. Mr Coode justly says-.. A little attention will convince the reader, that if the essential parts of legal sentences were kept distinct and conspicuous in a bill, the difficulty of criticising a measure while in its progress through parliament must be greatly diminished; that it would be comparatively easy to show the excesses or omissions of each enactment, and to call the promoters of a bill to account; while it must be in the same degree difficult for sophistry to cast a doubt about the elements of a measure, all of which were exposed so simply and conspicuously. The question of a member, for what case does this enactment apply? or, is this enactment absolute and without condition? or, who is to have this right; to be compelled to this sacrifice; to exercise this authority? or, when, where, and how is it to be exercised? calls the attention at once to the enunciation of the case, the condition, the subject, the action respectively. The smallest inconsistency between the answer of the conductor of the bill and the expression in the bill of either of these elements, will at once compel the insertion of modifications, accordant with his explanations. The unfair and unavowable legislation, which now sometimes passes in the confusion of an intricate phraseology, would be prevented at once.'-(P. 44.) We have avoided the subject of Local Legislation, as apt to lead to the consideration of defects peculiar to itself, with which it would be impossible to deal within our limited space; but we feel bound to notice a feature in the general legislation of the country during the last session, calculated to abbreviate and simplify future local bills. Three acts were passed intended to contain general formulas for the clauses most usually to be found in local measures. There are certain provisions which every local act, for the accomplishment of any one particular class of objects such as railways or harbours-contains, or ought to contain. By embodying the corresponding clauses in a series of Public acts, instead of separately re-enacting them in each new local statute, it was believed that two objects might be accomplished in regard to future local legislation, brevity and uniformity. These acts are appointed to be cited by abbreviated titles, which announce pretty distinctly their objects:-• The lands clauses consolidation act,' The companies' clauses 'consolidation act,''The Railways' clauses consolidation act.' To prevent confusion, a separate series was passed applicable to Scotland. The design of these measures is worthy t VOL. LXXXIV. NO. CLXIX. K of unmixed commendation. How far they may accomplish their purpose, can only be judged of, after a course of experience of their operation. We have already intimated, that it did not form any part of the plan of this article, to enter on the discussion of any definite and systematic measures for the reform of those evils, a part only of which we have pointed out. In Mr Symonds Report, a scheme of bold and ingenious arrangements is set forth, which our limits will not allow us to notice, further than to express our belief, that it aims at a change much too radical and extensive to be safely adopted, until it has stood the test of further and more thorough examination and criticism. This gentleman had the merit of having attracted attention to this subject in 1835, in a work entitled The Mechanics of LawMaking; and he even then presented his opinions in a complete and systematic form. Mr Coode, whose little work is more cautious in its clear and exact suggestions, considers that nearly all that is desired may be accomplished, by ridding the present forms of their superfluous and obscure phraseology; and confiding the mechanical part of legislation to persons who have studied, and who comprehend the nature of their task. In this opinion he is supported by the scope of Mr Gael's more elaborate work, which furnishes a chart of rocks and quicksands to be avoided by the draftsman who desires to put his meaning into language which cannot be either mistaken or misapplied. ART. VI. 1. The Expedition to Borneo of Her Majesty's Ship Dido, for the Suppression of Piracy: with Extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. of Sarawak, now Agent for the British Government in Borneo. By Captain the Hon. HENRY KEPPEL, R.N. 2 vols. 8vo. London : 1846. 2. Enterprise in Tropical Australia. London': 1846. By G. W. EARL, 8vo. 3. Trade and Travel in the Far East. By G. F. DAVIDSON. 8vo. London: 1846. 4. An Address, with a Proposal for the Foundation of a Church, Mission-House, and School at Sarawak, Borneo. By the Rev. C. D. BRERETON, Rector of Little Massingham, Norfolk. 8vo. London: 1846. 5. Discoveries in Australia; with a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. By J. LORT STOKES, Commander R.N. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1846. A T the conclusion of the Chinese war in 1842, Captain Keppel, then in command of H.M.S. Dido, was ordered to the Malacca straits, a station in which the island of Borneo was included; his principal duties being the protection of trade, and suppression of piracy. The first of the above works, comprises in part the narrative of his proceedings in the execution of the latter branch of his duty. But the greater portion is composed of Extracts from the Journal of Mr Brooke, containing details respecting the foundation of his little Sovereignty on the coast of Borneo, to which so much observation has been lately, and most deservedly directed. 6 The voyage I made to China,' says this extraordinary person-in language which conveys an idea of the swelling magnificence and importance of his views opened an entirely new scene; and showed me what I had never seen before-savage 'life and savage nature. I inquired, and I read, and I became more and more assured that there was a large field of discovery and adventure open to any man daring enough to enter upon 'it. Just take a map, and trace a line over the Indian Archipelago, with its thousand unknown islands and tribes. Cast your eye over the vast island of New Guinea, where the foot of European has scarcely, if ever, trod. Look at the northern 'coast of Australia, with its mysterious gulf of Carpentaria ;a survey of which, it is supposed, would solve the great geographical question respecting the rivers of the mimic continent. 'Place your finger on Japan, with its exclusive but civilized |